1980

Dr. E. Joan Barice, MPH, received an honorary doctorate degree in humanities from Northwood University in May 2006. The degree was awarded in recognition of her contributions to the field of preventive medicine, particularly her work with people with addictions and HIV, low-income elderly, and other underserved populations. Barice founded the Florida Society of Addiction Medicine, helping it gain designation as a speciality by the Florida Medical Association, and, together with the national organization, contributed to improved addiction education and access to treatment. She serves on the faculty of the University of Miami and Nova Southeastern University medical schools. On April 19, 2007 Barice received the "Changing Lives Award" from the Drug Abuse Treatment Association for her tireless efforts in helping people battle their substance abuse problems. To read more, click here. 

Dr. Ted Mala, MPH, is Director of Traditional Healing and Tribal Relations for Southcentral Foundation in Anchorage, AK. He was recently honored by the Association of American Indian Physicians with their 2008 Physician of the Year award at their Annual Meeting and Health Conference held in Worley, ID from July 24-29, 2008. His distinguished record in public health and his dedication to helping others earned him the honor.

Dr. Olaf R. McLetchie, MPH, passed away in June 2004. Dr. McLetchie served as medical director for Argus Insights of Cedar Crest, New Mexico. He also served as director of Clinical Pathology for the New England Sinai Hospital.

Dr. Melvin D. Shipp, MPH, will be inducted into the National Optometry Hall of Fame at the East-West Eye Conference to be held in Cleveland, Ohio, on October 31, 2002. The National Optometry Hall of Fame recognizes those whose lifetime achievements have advanced the profession of optometry.

Dr. Jane Weintraub, MPH, is president of the American Association of Public Health Dentistry. She is also the Lee Hysan Professor of Oral Epidemiology and Dental Public Health at the University of California, San Francisco School of Dentistry.

1981

Michelle Gougeon, MPH, received the Big Brothers of Massachusetts Bay's 2003 Joseph P. Lombard Award for outstanding contributions to the community. Gougeon has served on the Big Brothers Board of Directors since 1994. In addition to serving as McLean's executive vice president and chief operating officer, she is also president of McLean Health Services, a for-profit subsidiary of the McLean Hospital Corporation. She holds the appointment of lecturer on psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

Charles Levenstein, SM, is now professor emeritus in the School of Health and Environment at the University of Massachusetts in Lowell. His research focuses on the politics and economics of disease and injury in the workplace. His recent projects include investigating health and safety hazards in the education industry, and measuring the cost-effectiveness of various occupational health interventions. Levenstein, who is also a published poet, just released a new book, Poems of World War III. 

Neil Powe, MPH, was named the 2007 Distinguished Educator by the National Association of Clinical Research Training. Powe is an expert in the treatment of chronic kidney disease and a professor of medicine and epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His research interests include improving the treatment of patients with end-stage renal disease.

Boukje M. Zaadstra, MPH, SM '82, participated in a lively panel discussion "Avoiding Pandemics" by Dr. Sprenger, the Director-General of the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment at the Harvard Club of the Netherlands, March 2006.

1982

Dr. Jeffrey M. Brown, MPH, Denver Health's director of General Pediatrics Division, has been promoted to professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Dr. Brown had been an associate professor since 1977.

Dr. Hui-Ming Chang, MPH, SM '83, is associate vice president for International Programs and special advisor to the president of the University of Texas Health Sciences Center at Houston. Originally from Taiwan, Chang uses her own experiences to help other international scientists and educators adjust to life in the United States. She is active in graduate and continuing medical education, organizing courses in pain, palliative, and end-of-life care. Chang has been honored with the Fleming and Davenport Award, established with charitable funds to improve the treatment and care of cancer patients, and the Taiwan Harvard Alumni Association Scholar Award.  

Dr. John Howard, MPH, director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), delivered the keynote address in March for the CleanRooms Contamination Control Technology Conference & Exhibition. The conference, held in Boston, focused on the critical role nanotechnology will play in protecting those who work with or are potentially exposed to fine particles. Prior to joining NIOSH, Howard was chief of the Division of Occupational Safety and Health within the California Department of Industrial Relations.

Mary G. Leary, SM, of Evanston, Illinois was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer for Mather LifeWays, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the well-being of older adults.

1983

Dr. Tyler Curiel, MPH, was recently appointed director of the San Antonio Cancer Institute, a joint program of the Cancer Therapy and Research Center (CTRC) and the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Curiel also serves as the CTRC’s scientific director, as assistant dean for oncology in the School of Medicine, and as interim chief of the division of Medical Oncology at the University of Texas Health Science Center. He joined the Institute from Tulane Medical School, where he was professor and chief of the Section on Hematology and Medical Oncology. Curiel’s research interest focuses primarily on developing immune therapies for cancers and infectious diseases, which are now in human clinical trials.  

Dr. Jacques Carter, MPH, is the medical director of the Gillette Company Community Prostate Cancer Screening and Education Program. This Dana-Farber Cancer Institute initiative operates out of the Dana-Farber Blum Family Resource Center van, providing prostate screening and education for men in Greater Boston. Carter, also an attending physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, oversees screening tests, stressing the importance of early detection in increasing survival rates. Dr. Carter appeared on NewsCenter 5 on July 17, 2006 to discuss a new drug, Exubera, the first insulin that you can inhale. It was approved by the FDA in January. Click here to read the story.

Dr. Ajit Nagpal, MPH, is chairman of the Board of Directors at Wellogic, an award-winning health care information technology corporation based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Previously he was the adviser to the Ministry of Health on Hospital Affairs for the United Arab Emirates, where he was involved in formulating national health policy concerning autonomization of health care services and infrastructural development. Nagpal is credited with planning and developing more than 30 hospitals, including the Institute of Medical Sciences, a 600-bed teaching hospital in Srinagar, India. He also founded the Hospitalia Eastern Limited, an organization dedicated to the establishment of hospitals in South Asia. He currently chairs the Scientific Advisory Council of Welcare World, an integrated health care delivery network in the Middle East.

Dr. Hank C. K. Wuh, MPH, is the founder and chief executive officer of Hawaii-based Cellular Bioengineering Inc. (CBI), a biotech startup that focuses on regenerative medicine, particularly the bioengineering of human corneas for transplantation to address the global shortage of donors. In 2005, CBI won an R&D 100 Award for a new bioelectronic device, the Neural Matrix CCD. The device, developed with researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, in California, will help scientists understand how neural networks behave, communicate, and learn. Before launching CBI, Wuh founded The Daily Wellness Company, which develops nutritional products for reproductive health, and Pharmagenesis, a pharmaceutical company focused on drug research, development, and commercialization in Asia. Wuh is also an associate clinical professor of surgery at the University of Hawaii School of Medicine.

1984

Dr. Lora Fleming, MPH, AB '78, MD '83, is the only board-certified occupational and environmental medicine physician and epidemiologist in South Florida. In May, the University of South Florida College of Public Health named her the 2006 Florida Outstanding Woman in Public Health for her exceptional contributions to the state. Her breadth of experience includes studying marine and freshwater toxins, and the microbial pollution in recreational waters. A professor at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, Fleming is also the co-director of the school's Oceans and Human Health Center, funded by the National Science Foundation and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences—one of only four such centers in the United States.

Dr. Boris Lushniak, MPH, assistant commissioner at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and captain in the Commissioned Corps of the United States Public Health Service (PHS), was promoted in April to the rank of assistant surgeon general/rear admiral. Lushniak joined the FDA in 2004 as its chief medical officer in the Office of Counterterrorism Policy and Planning after working at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for 16 years. His expertise lies in counterterrorism activites, disaster response, medical epidemiology, and occupational skin diseases. Lushniak has been awarded a number of PHS awards, including the Outstanding Service Medal, the Commendation Medal, and two Achievement Medals.

Dr. JoAnn E. Manson, MPH, DPH '87, recently co-authored a new book on hormone therapy decision, Hot Flashes, Hormones, and Your Health. In 2004, she was honored with a Distinguished Alumna Award from the Medical Alumni Association of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Dr. Manson is the Elizabeth F. Brigham Professor of Women's Health at the Harvard Medical School, chief of the Division of Preventive Medicine in the Department of Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital and professor of epidemiology at HSPH. She served as one of the lead investigators on two of the most influential women’s health studies ever conducted—the Women’s Health Initiative and the Harvard Nurses’ Health Study—earning her the reputation of one of the world’s leading authorities in the field.

Wiley Souba Jr, SD, was appointed dean of the College of Medicine at Ohio State University in June 2006. A surgical oncologist, Souba previously was chairman of surgery in Penn State’s College of Medicine and surgeon-in-chief at the Milton Hershey Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania. He also held academic and surgical appointments at the University of Florida College of Medicine and, in Boston, Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital.

Dr. George "Peach" Taylor, Jr., MPH, was recently promoted to Lieutenant General (getting his third star), and became the United States Air Force Surgeon General - the highest rank and position attainable for a military medical officer. He will lead the Air Force Medical Service for the next several years. His specialty is aerospace medicine.

Clifford Scott, DO, MPH was appointed academic dean of the New England College of Optometry after teaching at the College since 1970. Currently, he is serving as chair of the College's Department of Community Health.

1985

Dr. Leslie E. Korn, MPH, is director of the American Indian Elder Caregiver Health Study at the Center for Traditional Medicine, an agency of the Center for World Indigenous Studies. Her research studies whether a traditional healing treatment can reduce stress and improve the health of people caring for elders from the underserved American Indian community who are suffering from memory loss or Alzheimer's disease.

Dr. David A. Schwartz, MPH, was named the new director of the National Institutes of Health's National Insitute of Environmental Health Sciences. As director, Dr. Schwartz will oversee a $711 million budget to fund multidisciplinary biomedical research, prevention, and intervention programs, which encompass training, education, technology transfer, and community outreach.

1986

Dr. John Bigos, MPH, joined the Connecticut Department of Public Health, effective February 3, 2006. He is working within the agency's Planning Branch, where he is responsible for public health policy and planning projects, including pandemic influenza preparedness planning. Dr. Bigos is the recent past president of the Connecticut State Medical Society, and has served as a spokesperson on many health care issues at a local, state, and national level.

Leonard Kirschner, MPH, joined a board of health care experts and community advocates formed in June by the managed care organization AMERIGROUP Corporation to address the needs of individuals relying on publicly funded health care. Kirschner also was recently asked by Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano to lead a comprehensive review of the operations of the state’s veterans’ homes. He is a former director of the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, under which he established the Arizona Long-Term Care System, which serves the elderly and disabled. 

Dr. Chideha MacDonald Ohuoha, MPH, is director of the Mobile Community Outreach treatment team for the District of Columbia. The team treats chronically mentally ill persons who have failed all traditional treatment paradigms, and who are living on the streets and in shelters.

Gail Price-Wise, SM, recently gave a presentation titled "The Mishaps of Cross-Cultural Communication at the University of Melbourne International House and in Sydney, Australia. The presentation in Sydney was hosted by the Sydney Leadership Program, an initiative of The Benevolent Society, Australia's oldest charity. Harvard alumni were in attendance at both presentations, and her talks were met with great interest. The topic of cultural competency is particularly important in Australia, given the growing ethnic and religious diversity of the country, and a new focus on the aboriginal population.  As noted in the title, she discussed the serious repercussions of inter-cultural misunderstandings--fatal medical outcomes, wrongful arrests, and job losses, among others. She has developed a model that includes three types of cultural competency: internal, communicative, and knowledge-specific. Internal cultural competency is about managing one's prejudices and treating others with respect, regardless of the automatic thoughts and feelings one may have. Communicative cultural competency relates to listening effectively  and providing information that it is accurately received by the other person. These two types of cultural competency do not require any specific knowledge of the other culture. The third type, knowledge-specific cultural competency is, as described, having specific information about each culture with whom one is working. 

1987

Dr. Sunil Chacko, MPH, is a partner with New Info Solutions LLC, a management consulting and investment research and advisory firm based in McLean, Virginia. Chacko conducts science, technology, finance, and equity research and analysis in sectors that include pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. His most recent publication is The Rise of the Value-Added Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Industry in India.

Dr. Thomas Henry Lee, SM, AB '75, was appointed in January to the board of directors of the Geisinger Health System Foundation, a nonprofit hospital system that includes two medical centers. A professor of health policy and management at HSPH, Lee is the chief executive officer of Partners Community Healthcare, Inc., and a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Robert Mittendorf, MD, SDM '74, MPH '87, DPH '91, the former Volunteer Chair, Alumni Giving, HSPH (2004-2007) and Charter Member of the Leadership Council (HSPH) was selected to give the Dr. Robert Norton Ganz Memorial Lecture in Pediatrics at Massachusetts General Hospital (Harvard Medical School) on June 3, 2008. The topic was "The pediatric neuropathology associated with high dose exposures to tocolytic magnesium sulfate: An important contributor to infant mortality in the United States?" Dr. Mittendorf, a tenured professor of obstetrics and pediatrics at Loyola University Chicago, is an HSPH-trained epidemiologist who does research in the etiology of cerebral palsy.

Dr. Alon Tal (formerly Rosenthal), SM and SD '89, received the 2005 Charles Bronfman Prize for his accomplishments in environmental activism, policy, and education. The prize, a humanitarian award of $100,000, is given annually to an individual under age 50 whose achievements are "emblematic of the Jewish values and regard for humanity." Tal founded the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, in which students from Israel, Jordan, and Palestine study and work together towards peace and sustainable development. He also launched the Israel Union for Environmental Defense, a non-profit that uses legal advocacy to protect Israeli citizens against government and corporate practices that adverse affect the environment and public health. He is the author of Speaking of Earth: Environmental Speeches that Moved the World.

1988

Elisabeth Benjamin, SM, is director of the New York Civil Liberties Union's Reproductive Rights Project, a program dedicated to preserving and expanding the reproductive and health rights of New Yorkers, particularly low-income women, women of color, and adolescent girls and boys. Previously she directed the Health Law Unit in the Legal Aid Society's Civil Division. In recognition of her efforts, New York's Westsider community newspaper named her a "Health Care Hero." Benjamin has worked as a health specialist in Iraq, the Philippines, Morocco, Tunisia, and, through HSPH, India.

Jesse A. Berlin, SD, is the senior director for statistical science at Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development, LLC. Dr. Berlin provides internal consulting and advising for projects across all therapeutic disciplines and in specific areas, including pharmacoepidemiology.

Dr. Alan Moloff, MPH, is a founding member of the American Board of Disaster Medicine instituted by the American Board of Physician Specialties, which will allow physicians to earn board certification in disaster medicine for the first time. This will fill an urgent need for physician responders who are able to effectively organize and coordinate disaster planning.

1989

Dr. Elsbeth Kalenderian, MPH, is the senior vice president for Quality Improvement Initiatives at the American Heart Association. She is responsible for the implementation of the "Get with the Guidelines" program, a hospital-based, concurrent case management program focusing on standardizing secondary prevention care measures for stroke and cardiovascular patients throughout the Northeast.

Suresh Santanam, SD, has been named associate director of Syracuse Center of Excellence in Enironmental and Energy Systems. She will assume a leadership role in designing the center's headquarters building.